HE leprosy is a disease of the skin, most loathsome

TH

and inveterate, to which Eastern nations were particularly liable. The directions for the management of persons so afflicted, and their separation, as unclean, from others, are given with much minuteness in the Book of Leviticus. Naaman, an officer of the Syrian army, was a leper. And the Syrians had gone out by companies, and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maid; and she waited on Naaman's wife. And she said unto her mistress, Would God my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria! for he would recover him of his leprosy. And one went in, and told his lord, saying, Thus and thus said the maid that is of the land of Israel.' The king of Israel was therefore sent to by the king of Syria, who accompanied his request with a rich present. The king of Israel expressed surprise and re

sentment at the application; but when Elisha heard of it, he desired that Naaman might come to him. 'So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha. And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean. But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper. Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned, and went away in a rage. And his servants said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean? Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.'—2 KINGS v.

ND the sons of the prophets said unto Elisha, Behold now, the place where we dwell with thee is too strait for us. Let us go, we pray thee, unto Jordan, and take thence every man a beam, and let us make us a place there, where we may dwell. And he answered, Go ye. And one said, Be content, I pray thee, and go with thy servants. And he answered, I will go.

So he went with them.

And when they came to Jordan,

they cut down wood. But as one was felling a beam, the axe-head fell into the water: and he cried, and said, Alas, master! for it was borrowed. And the man of God said, Where fell it? And he showed him the place. And he cut down a stick, and cast it in thither; and the iron did swim. Therefore said he, Take it up to thee. And he put out his hand, and took it.'-2 KINGS vi.

NFIDELITY, when it arises from wilful blindness of

INFIDELITY, when it anses from wife divine er of

and in that of the sanctioned prophets and ministers of God, is guilt, both deep and dangerous. Elisha had wrought miracles enough before Jews and Gentiles to render his declaration credible by all, however wonderful the announcement might be. A very striking example of the punishment of this sin is afforded in the death of an infidel scoffer during the siege of Samaria by the Syrians. 'And that lord answered the man of God, and said, Now, behold, if the Lord should make windows in heaven, might such a thing be? And he said, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof. And so it fell out unto him; for the people trode upon him in the gate, and he died.'- -2 KINGS vii.

+

THE DEATH OF ELISHA.

THE DEATH OF ELISHA, AND THE MIRACLE IN HIS TOMB.

(HOUGH Elisha was not distinguished by a transla

tion to heaven without the death of the body, like

Elijah, it is evident that he had, according to his express desire, a double portion of the spirit of Elijah resting upon him; for he appears not only to have wrought in his lifetime many more miracles than his precursor, but his body retained this divine power in the very tomb. 'And Elisha died, and they buried him. And the bands of the Moabites invaded the land at the coming in of the year. And it came to pass, as they were burying a man, that, behold, they spied a band of men; and they cast the man into the sepulchre of Elisha: and when the man was let down, and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived, and stood up on his feet.'- -2 KINGS xiii.

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